The delineation of distinctive patterns of emergent behaviors in neonates, which parallel emergent physiological-anatomical differentiation of neural substrates, will provide researchers with an important investigatory tool in the understanding of the development of structural-functional relationships. This proposal describes a series of experiments on kittens in the early postnatal period designed to systematically assay the development of behavioral capabilities of the important sensory modalities of vision and audition. The massive number of behavioral and electrophysiological studies of these sensory systems in adult animals, especially cats, stands in contrast to the paucity of similar investigations, particularly with regard to behaviors in very immature animals. This research will utilize a number of different approaches to include: observational techniques for assessing the development of orientation responses to visual and auditory stimulation, as well as operant, instrumental and classical conditioning for investigating learning capabilities in regard to these stimulus dimensions. Moreover, the studies will provide a multidisciplinary complement to ongoing electrophysiological studies of the immature kitten's central nervous system. The behavioral studies will provide needed group and individual difference-normative data which may suggest important relationships between emergent behavior and parallel emergent neural substrates. We believe that by examining the sub-units of simple behavior, the possibility for discovering these relationships will be maximized.